9-Year-Old Knits the Weather

I have heard about people using the daily weather where they live as inspiration for their knitting projects before (see the Sky Scarf from Leafcutter Designs) but I really like what 9-year-old knitter Rebecca Ryan did last year, knitting a scarf with colors that represent the high temperature each day in her native Seattle.

She worked her scarf in purples, pinks and blues, and it’s actually quite beautiful, as well as showing a record of warm days and cold snaps. She decided to do that instead of a sky scarf because so many days are cloudy in Seattle, and it’s easy to forget to write down what the sky looked like, where you can always look up the daily high if you forget to keep track.

This is also really interesting because you can see the temperatures for the year graphed out in a pie chart if you click through, and there was no really dominant temperature through the year (the most yardage used was for the 51 to 55 degree range, which was the temperature 14 percent of the time).

Rebecca is knitting a new scarf this year with the added twist of working in beads on the days it rains. Given the soggy reputation of Seattle, that should be a really interesting finished object.

[Photo via Komo News.]

Have You Knit a Temperature Scarf? Heres How to Do it

Dad Knits a Blanket to Track Babys Sleep

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

Have you read?